Piano {Recital}.

Little R started piano and she's doing pretty good so far:)  She had her very first piano recital recently and she did perfect!

Right before the recital started all the kids were taking turns on the piano to get a feel for it since not all pianos have that same feeling as the one at home:)  Here she is holding up her recital piece:) 

And here she is playing for us all, she played her piece with perfection and didn't even seem nervous one bit!  You played beautifully Little R!!

Pinewood {Derby}.

My son LOVES going to Scouts and I love seeing him in an environment he can relate to as far as being a boy is concerned.  Pinewood Derby this year got off to a lousy start when they forgot to warn everyone of it's upcoming status.  I was informed I had less than 2 weeks to get a Pinewood Derby car painted and assembled.  If you have never painted and assembled a Pinewood Derby car, it is NOT a project that can be done in an evening.

So as rushed as we were to get a car made for G, we cranked it out and albeit still a little sticky, the car was on time and ready to go!  That was, until the machine that ticks each cars time at the finish line decided it didn't want to work!  So, as the men kept messing with the stupid device, they decided to give all the kids their snack that was meant for AFTER the Derby, early, just to keep them occupied till things got underway. 

My Baby R chowing on popcorn waiting for the races to begin.

So, I finally got fed up with waiting, it was already going on 7:30pm and when they determined cars weren't getting correct times and would have to start races over, I decided it was time to get the younger girls home to go to bed since school was still on the next morning.  This was the only pic I got of G's car racing, his is the red car on the red lane, it was winning:)

 

Overall, it was a bummer of a night but I'm glad G still got to participate.  In the end, his car didn't place in the top 3 this year, but he still got an award for his car, he got, "Most Creative" car.  G wanted his car to look like a race car w/#43 on it.  Don't ask me the significance behind #43, I just went with it.  So, with his paint choices, we painted it red with blue windows and a guy driving it.  I sadly don't have an up close picture because, well, I forgot, it was a blur of an event.

I've re-{grouped}.

Having a child with Autism in a world that isn't built for them sure can send you on a roller coaster ride.  Thank you Kelly Clarkson for giving me a theme song for my life.  I dedicate this song to all parents of special needs kids that are working their asses off for their beautiful babies:)

Bang head {here}.

So I just realized it's been over a month since my last post, January just plain sucked, but I'll post about that later.  Right now, I'm having one of those moments with G that make me hate everyone in the world who is so lucky to have a house full of NT kids.  Bottom line, G does not know how to handle stress.  The school had a local psychologist come in and evaluate G last year and offered up several suggestions.  The Resource Teacher was at a little bit of a loss after some behaviors G has exhibited this week so she went back to her old notes from this psychologist and came up with a new chart for G.  The chart works for G at school, but by the time he gets home, he has so much pent up stress from trying to stay under control that he just LOSES it.  As soon as I opened the door from him getting home today, he immediately started pushing me, yelling at me, hitting me, writing inappropriate things on paper, saying things like, "I want this world to end" and "stop crying, I hate crying!", it's too much on days like this.  I feel so isolated during these moments, it sucks. I watch people post pictures of their perfect NT kids on FB to show off how healthy and awesome there kids and life are but the thought of me posting a picture of my son kills me, no one would understand what hides behind his eyes.  I know he's hurting inside because he does know better, he just can't help himself.  I hate FB on days like today.  Is it ok to go bang my own head for not learning all I should fast enough to help him?

Update on {G}.

I figured I'd give an update on G since I haven't in awhile, but not like people are asking, I find I keep miserable company in friends and really should un-friend more.  So I guess this post is more for my records:)

Last summer we flew to Chicago to meet with a new doc for G in hopes we'd pull him out of the grips of Autism even more.  It's been 7 months now, and back in November we learned our new physician was moving to CA to start with a new pediatrician practice that focuses solely on holistic healing.  After much thought on if we felt we'd follow her to this new practice in CA or stay put and just transfer to another doc w/in the same practice in Chicago, we've decided to stay put.  We will continue our journey with the same office, but different doc.  This other doc is actually the main doc and is absolutely brilliant in healing an Autistic body.  The only reason we didn't go with her in the beginning was because of price.  We've decided G is worth more than any amount we'd ever pay to heal him.  So, we're off to Chicago again in February, this time it will just be G and me so I'm praying that everything will fall into place:)

In the meantime, I had a test ran called, Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR).  It's a simple blood test to determine common gene mutations.  Why more docs aren't running this test is beyond me (seriously, got symptoms? look them up to see if they fall under MTHFR!).  Last week I got the results back for this blood test and G tested positive for 2 copies of the A1298C gene mutation but negative on the C677T (good news).  Basically what this means is that G sadly inherited this gene mutation once from his dad and once from me:(  This test tells us a few things, his methylation cycle is completely out of whack and needs to be corrected, he can never have nitrous oxide at a dental office (neither should his dad or me, possibly his sisters too, we haven't tested them yet), he's at a higher risk for cardiovascular issues, the type of folate he takes has to be in methyl form and may require amounts similar to a pre-natal dose and a lot of his symptoms are due to this mutated gene and with proper diet can reduce these symptoms.

With knowing the results of this test, I know that going to see this new woman in Chicago is a much better choice because she is a leading expert on methylation/krebs cycle.  I just pray Mr. D's job holds steady and we can continue forward with treating G.

I know a lot of families out there who deal with Autism don't go to the lengths we've chosen to go to heal Autism.  I have to be honest though, it makes me sad:(  When you do blood work on your child and you see the amount of inflammation that is riddling their bodies and the levels of bad bacteria outnumbering the good and the vitamin/mineral levels completely off balance, and the toxic waste eating away at their joints why would you let your child suffer??  They feel sick all the time but don't realize it because they assume it's normal to feel that bad:(  My son has Autism.  Autism is a condition that is completely treatable in many different ways.  Not one method works for every person with Autism that is why it is so important to find a physician that understands this and will constantly brainstorm with you to keep fighting for your specific child.    Is it hard work? That's an understatement.  Is it expensive? Again, that's an understatement.  Is my child worth the fight to pull them out of Autism grips? HELL YES!!!!  Why should I live my life happy and free and pretend my son doesn't need medical help?  Seriously?  I want to smack parents up side the head when they do NOTHING for their kids with Autism.  DO SOMETHING!  K, I'm getting worked up, I love the Autism community so much, these people are brilliant and believe it or not, they are learning everything you are, they just can't express it....yet:)

Christmas {miracle}.

Christmas morning 2012 started out really dark and drizzly which was still casting that cozy, peaceful feeling through our family room even though there was no snow on the ground to make it that perfect "white Christmas".

Well, shortly after lunch the rain switched over to sleet and then you could start picking out white, fluffy yumminess in there and before we knew it, we had full blown SNOW!!! 

We got the kids all bundled up, reminiscent of our old Minnesota days;) 

And we jetted outside to PLAY!!!!  In Texas, you NEVER pass up the opportunity to play in the snow because by the next day, it'll be all melted:(

Baby R looking cold.  That's the point right? 

G still remembers making snow angels, only, I had to remind him to flip over and do it on his back;) 

Making snow balls and walking around to find a target to throw at:) 

The snow kept coming and kept getting deeper!

And my snowman I made for the kids, isn't he perfect for a Christmas day white out?  All in all, we got roughly 4-5 inches in our neck of the woods, plenty to roll snowballs and get our snow fix:)

Merry Christmas everyone!  May the new year of 2013 bring your family wisdom, fortune, good health and prosperity!

Merry {Christmas}.

It starts off with Christmas Eve....  Little R woke up and came running into the family room and then looked at me confused and asked where all the presents were.  I had to inform her Santa comes the night of the 24th:)

I grew up getting a new ornament each Christmas Eve while others got PJ's.  I've continued the tradition of giving my own kids an ornament (and me and Mr. D too) but we decided to let our kids pick out there own (my mom just chose and wrapped).  Before we opened our ornaments, G wanted his Angry Birds to look like they were having Christmas too, hence the pic;)  

We followed the night with decorating allergen friendly sugar cookies for Santa as well as making our traditional Mexican feast for dinner:)  We usually entertain on Christmas Eve but this year we kept things quiet and to ourselves which was nice:)

It's CHRISTMAS!!!!!!  Definitely looks like Santa came!

We had to finally go wake Baby R up, the other two were getting way too antsy!  So, she looks half asleep in the eyes but she went straight for her pony Butterscotch that Santa brought her:) 

We snuck this gift out while at Disney World.  G's favorite ride was Star Tours and so before we left, we purchased this play Star Tours simulator and had it shipped home:)  It's awesome, it opens up so you can put all your guys in and seat belt them in.  Totally perfect gift for him:) 

Little R wanted an American Girl doll, I hesitated only because she's never been a girl to play with dolls.  It all came about after a birthday party she was invited to that was American Girl themed.  She was quite particular that she wanted one with medium length blonde hair and green eyes.  Thankfully we have an AG store here so I could go in and get exactly what she asked for.  Pricey little suckers but she's been very loving with her doll which makes our splurge worth it:)

After all the presents were opened we were gifted one more miracle, yes it's a miracle, that I will post about next so stay tuned.....